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Though Aksal has not taken the stand, he told a different version of events to the officers who responded to the scene.

Two FBI agents who took Aksal's
statement at the airport said that he claimed the woman was 'coming onto
him' by saying he was handsome and smelled good.

NJ.com
reports that Aksal told the officers that she was the one to make the
first physical move, by placing his hands on her genitals.

The alleged attack took place on a United Airlines flight between Phoenix and Newark

Two
other passengers testified on Tuesday, one saying that Aksal glared at
her through the crack between two seats and another told how his chair
was kicked so hard that it disturbed his sleep.

Police arrested him when the plane landed and charged with sexual abuse. If convicted he could be facing life imprisonment.

In
addition to handing over all of his travel documents, Aksal was made to
wear an electronic monitoring bracelet during the time he spent waiting
for his bail, and he had to adhere to a 24/7 lockdown in his North
Bergen home, NJ.com reported.

He has been ordered to abstain from contact with the alleged victim or anyone else involved in the case.

Aksal, an ethnic Kurd, fled Turkey
years ago and was denied bail at his first court appearance because he
was deemed to be a flight risk.

Assistant
U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Harris, argued that as a Turkish-born U.S.
citizen with few stateside assets, at least two passports and facing up
to life in prison on the sex abuse charge, he was a flight risk with a
strong motive to flee to Turkey.

Defense attorney Robert DeGroot said Aksal denied abusing the woman and disputed claims in the criminal complaint that he had admitted to authorities that he had touched the woman but had told them it was consensual.

DeGroot argued that the scenario, on a crowded plane, was highly unlikely.

'If I was on a plane and someone reached into my trousers, I would wake up and complain vociferously,' DeGroot argued to U.S.

Harris countered that the woman, whom prosecutors have not named because of the nature of the charges, did wake up and protest, slamming down the arm rest between her and Aksal and alerting the flight crew.

Harris said the woman, who dozed off wearing headphones and with a jacket draped across her lap, awoke to find her clothing ripped, her bra pulled down to her waist and Aksal breathing heavily and whispering for her to kiss him.

'This was a crime of violence,' Harris told the judge. 'An egregious act in a commercial airliner with over 100 potential witnesses.'